Sally J Freedman

by Judy Blume

Sally J Freedman

by
Judy Blume

book data

2,529 ratings, 3.91 average rating, 135 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		31%
4		33%
3		28%
2		4%
1		0%

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published

August 28th 1996 by Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group (first published 1977)

details

Paperback

isbn

0440911893 (isbn13: 9780440911890)

description

When Sally’s family moves to Miami Beach for the winter of 1947, she is excited and nervous at the same time. What will school be like in Florida? Wil…more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2,912)

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Nov 15, 2007

Jessica rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

bookshelves: wee-ones-and-bored-teenagers

recommends it for: anyone with a tenuous grip on reality

I thought about giving this a five, and it might deserve one.

This is Judy Blume's best book. It's written for a younger crowd than her Puberty books, and Sally's concerns lie in the elementary school horrors of shame and embarrassment and trying to fit in. These are conveyed spectacularly well, as when she discovers upon moving to Florida that there are no doors on the bathroom stalls at her new school. Imagine!! The details in this book -- the social necessity of not wearing socks, ...more

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

7 comments

May 06, 2008

Gail rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

bookshelves: jewish-themes, kiddie-lit, old-favorite

I am, I confess wearily, too old to have read Judy Blume as a child. However, I had the unbelievable good fortune (no sarcasm intended here) to have a daughter when I was 18; therefore, as I joyfully stuffed her room with books, I had the great opportunity...er, I mean the heavy responsibility of reading lots and lots of kids' and YA books just to see what my leedle pupchin was up to. Hey, I figured if I liked it, she probably would too.
Well, Sally F. is a fond, fond memory for me. I love...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

1 comment

Oct 04, 2007

Presley rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

recommends it for: Anyone

"Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself" is my favorite book. It's about ten-year-old Sally who moves to Maimi Beach for the winter since her brother has a kidney infection and needs to stay in warmth. The book takes place in the post World War Two era. The book doesn't really have a main conflict, but you see Sally encounter world conflicts through naive eyes. She questions segregation a lot and she gets the same answers from adults: That's just the way things are. You also see Sally e...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comment

Jun 25, 2008

Ellen rated it:

(review of isbn 0440482534)

Read in January, 1989

One of the first books I truly considered a "favorite."

Judy Blume was in New York doing a reading my freshmen year of college -- not having my copy with me, I bought a new copy of this beloved favorite and had her sign it. I couldn't stop gushing about how much I loved this book :o)

Superb characters, this is a book that has always "stuck with me." I often think of and remember little bits and pieces from the story. One of those books that seems to get...more

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Sep 29, 2009

Tiffany rated it:

(review of isbn 0440982391)

bookshelves: fiction, youth

Read in January, 1983

recommends it for: all preteen girls

This was my favoutite Judy Blume book of all. You can tell because my old copy is water-stained (from reading in the bath, at the beach, wherever) and the back cover is missing. I loved Sally, and the era was a different time than the other Judy Blume books, which were more currant (at the time). It was exciting, and you could understand Sally's apprehension at being new in school, her sadness at leaving her Dad behind to his job whilst she and her mother, brother, and grandmother headed to Flor...more

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Oct 07, 2009

Colin rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

bookshelves: childhoodfaves, childrens, fiction

Read in October, 2009

I used to looove this. I remember i felt super grown-up reading it because our library had the hard back edition which I thought was extra extra extra long. On re-read, it's still cute, but there's a few things that are fucked up. One is this weird "Latin Lovers" thing the main character goes on and on about, and there's also some fatphobia. Also, perhaps this only bothered me because I happened to read the two one right after the other, but a girl who is doesn't know how to swim, does...more

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Mar 28, 2008

Nicole rated it:

(review of isbn 088103181X)

bookshelves: my-favorites-from-childhood

I read this one over and over again. I think I had some parts memorized. It really saddens me that they don't have a picture of the edition I had which was yellow!

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comment

Mar 11, 2007

Val Jones rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

bookshelves: childhoodfavorites

Read in January, 1996

recommends it for: Middle School Kids

This was one of my favorite childhood novels. I re-read it many times. Sally is a vibrant character, and her adventures are exciting and often funny.

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Jul 08, 2007

Jen rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

bookshelves: childhoodfavorites

Read in January, 1990

This was my favorite Judy Blume book. I borrowed it from the library so many times that the librarian suggested I read something else!

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Jul 09, 2009

Destinee rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

bookshelves: audio, families, girl-reads, historical-fiction, holocaust, juvenile

At the end of the audio book, Judy Blume confessed that this is her most autobiographical book, which explains why it felt so authentic, why the details really sang. Blume's Sally is a naive but very curious 5th grader who fantasizes about capturing Hitler (who, in her imagination, is her elderly neighbor in disguise). The story takes place in 1947-48. Sally's family moves from New Jersey to Florida for the winter because her older brother Douglas is recovering from a serious illness. The story ...more

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Dec 07, 2008

Dana rated it:

(review of isbn 0330398156)

bookshelves: childhood-favorites, must-read

recommends it for: little girls with big brains and bigger imaginations

This was, hands-down, my favorite book as a girl. I read it and reread it so many times the binding would tear. Sometimes I'd open it to a random page and just read from there until the end.
Like Sally, I had a wild imagination and wanted to be a star. I dreamed of tragic romance and brilliant discoveries and saving the world and winning Oscars.
Set against the backdrop of the end of WWII, Sally's tale is a must-read for any middle-schooler who hopes they'll be discovered in the lunc...more

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Apr 02, 2007

melissa rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

THIS was my favorite Judy Blume. Yay!

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May 14, 2007

Elizabeth rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

bookshelves: childrensbooks

My favorite Blume book.

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Nov 13, 2008

Runa added it (review of isbn 0440482534)

Read in January, 2009

This was always one of my favorite books by Judy Blume. I'm sure others would pick Are You There, God, but this is the one I found most relatable and interesting. I was stunned to realize that Sally is only 10 (this must be my third or fourth time reading it and I just now caught it *headdesk*). She has her moments of immaturity, but I went through the book thinking she was at least 13. No matter the age, though, I'm sure plenty of children can relate to her. This is a historical fiction bo...more

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Mar 14, 2008

Adriana rated it:

(review of isbn 0440482534)

recommends it for: nobody

Title: Starring Sally J. Herself
# of Pages: 298
Publisher: Yearling an imprint of Random House Children's Books a division of Random House, Inc., New York
Cost: $5.99
ISBN 0-440-48253-4

The book that this review is based on is called Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume. At first, when you look at the book it is eye catching. “ It was the hardest to say good bye to him. She sat on his lap with her head on his chest and played with his curly dark ha...more Title: Starring Sally J. Herself
# of Pages: 298
Publisher: Yearling an imprint of Random House Children's Books a division of Random House, Inc., New York
Cost: $5.99
ISBN 0-440-48253-4

The book that this review is based on is called Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume. At first, when you look at the book it is eye catching. “ It was the hardest to say good bye to him. She sat on his lap with her head on his chest and played with his curly dark hairs on his arms”(46). As you read the story, it’s interesting and you can even predict what will happen next. After awhile, though it gets boring though. It doesn’t grab you into reading the rest of the story. This book shows the experiences of Sally’s life. Also, the book has a lot of connections to the world but overall the book is not that great. One example, was when she talked about Sally’s brother’s disease and she compared it to people in the world that have it and what they have to do to treat it, this is why people here today move to warmer places.
This story is about a girl named Sally who had too many things to worry about. She has to move to Florida for the winter because it’s warmer there and her brother has pneumonia. She has to leave school and start school in Florida. Its hard for her to make new friends and basically start a new life. Her dad stays at home and doesn’t go to Florida though because he has to stay and work at the dentist office. She goes through many obstacles and adventures during this time. Sally is described as a movie star. She finds this boy in school and gets a crush on him. Everything in her life can be repeated and re-winded just like a film.
There were times that I liked this book though. It explained the theme and what the girl went through. The big thing that I disliked about the book was that it didn’t pull me into reading it at every point. It showed a life of a teenager and many things that went bad for her which left her with many worries. If a story has a great conflict, it should pull the reader in, but it didn’t and that was the thing that I didn’t like.
Judy Blume wrote many interesting books that I thought were amazing but this book was just not one of them. I really thought the text-to-world connections were a good thing that she added. I love to recommend books to people if they’re good, but I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. It just wasn’t the book that I wanted to continue reading even though I finished it. I wanted to put it down, but I also wanted to finish it at the same time. I was confused on whether or not I really did like it, and it had some interesting parts but it wasn’t the best book I read.

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7 comments

Jan 13, 2009

Dawn rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

I know this one by heart due to the number of times I read it as a girl, but I just reread Sally this past weekend because I was in need of a comfort read. I realize that this book taught me pretty much everything I knew about judaism until I went to college. But what I mean to say about it, really, is that it stands up beautifully after all this time and once again I marvel at the magic that is Judy Blume and her ability to communicate on so many levels at once with seemingly no effort.

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Jan 21, 2010

Ritaryan added it (review of isbn 0689840896)

Read in January, 2004

This is one of my favorite books of all time! I had probably read it years ago but it remains in the drawer under my bed because I find it comforting to pull out and read again. It tells the story of Sally, a young girl from New Jersey in the 1940s who is moving to Florida with her mother, brother Douglas and Grandmother while her father continues to work in New Jersey. Sally has a wild imagination of being a movie star and many adventures in Florida. It's an easy entertaining read.

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Aug 23, 2009

Emily rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

bookshelves: 2009

I am on a Judy Blume kick as of late. I didn't have time to read a lot of the popular YA when I was young, due to overwhelming amounts of school work. So I am taking a trip back in time and re-reading a lot of the older YA classics from the 60's-80's, (thanks to Shelf Discovery by By Lizzie Skurnick for many suggestions).

This was a cute story, I loved the voice of Sally J., a curious little girl with lots of spunk. She has lots of questions and a great imagination.

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May 23, 2008

george rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

bookshelves: juvenile, read-in-2008

Read in June, 2008

It's 1947 and Sally Freedman is ten year old. She, her grandmother, mother, and brother have moved to Florida for a winter of good weather. Her brother got very sick last year and Sally's parents hope that the climate will help. Sally is very apprehensive--she doesn't want to leave her father and her friends. But she is a little curious about this new way of life. Sally finds trouble fitting in and she doesn't understand everything (why are there no doors on the bathroom stalls?!). Blume explore...more

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Dec 14, 2008

Kirsten rated it:

(review of isbn 0689840896)

Read in December, 2008

This was always one of my favorite Blume books as a child - I think I was a little intrigued by the setting, which is not a "modern" New Jersey or Pennsylvania like so many of her others. Sally's imagination propels a lot of the plot and she has a great inner voice. I suppose it's different to read as an adult because I have a lot more perspective on some of Sally's wonderings (or the things she gets confused). Still a great book.

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